Unexpected
by SoneaKyraliana
Summary: Whilst in the Greene farm, Harry starts to act strangely, worrying his partner who doesn't know what to do as the wizard slowly pulls away. How will he react when he finds out the reason? One-shot. Slash. Rated M just in case.


Alright, I know I've got a lot of stories to update so this is only, and I really do mean only (at least for now…), a one-shot. And unlike the other ones, it's really short and has no back story to explain how they got to that point. Hope you like it, anyway.

Unexpected

Harry stared at the small innocent vial sitting next to him on the trunk of a fallen tree as if it were the one to blame for the end of the world.

After all, it may very well be the one to blame for the end of Harry's world.

The sound of footsteps startled him and he jumped up and spun around. He wasn't sure if he would have preferred to find a walker trying to eat him or what he saw.

It was Daryl.

Harry almost started to cry just at the sight of the older man, his lips already trembling.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you."

For a few minutes after those initial words, they simply stared at each other. Then, Harry sat back on the fallen trunk and Daryl took a few steps closer to him.

The hunter crouched in front of his partner and left his crossbow on the floor to the side before taking his hands in his much bigger ones. Harry refused to look up, but Daryl wouldn't have any of that. As soon as their eyes met and Harry saw the concern in the other's eyes, the wizard felt his eyes fill with tears and a sob escaped his lips.

"What's wrong?" finally asked the dubbed redneck.

"Daryl, I… I'm so sorry." managed to say the younger man before breaking down in sobs.

Daryl felt his eyes widen at the sight and he brought the raven into his arms.

"Shhh… calm down. What are you talking about, Harry?"

"I didn't want this to… to happen." hiccuped the wizard trying to stop crying but finding himself unable to. "I never thought… it never crossed my mind… I knew it was possible. I had heard about it once… in passing… but I never thought…"

"Hey… Harry, Harry, look at me. Look at me." ordered the older man bringing his head from where Harry had hidden it in the crook of his shoulder. "You need to calm down, alright? Why were you here all alone by yourself?"

Harry looked at him with tears in those beautiful green eyes of his and Daryl couldn't help but wonder if it had been something Shane had said that had upset him. Lately his little one had been strangely emotional and with the former cop being the great fucker that he was turning out to be, Daryl wouldn't have been surprised. However, if Shane really had upset Harry enough to make him cry, Rick could kiss his ass because he would personally kill him.

"I… I needed to get away from everyone. I needed to be sure."

"Harry, darling, you're not making much sense." said Daryl eying him with a scowl, trying not to show too much the deep worry he was feeling.

"I… Daryl, I…"

Daryl squeezed his hands slightly to encourage him to keep talking. He wanted, no, needed, to know what had hurt his little one so much so he could take care of the problem. Harry had been so distant for the last two days, barely talking to anyone, eating the bare minimum to keep himself standing and throwing up in the mornings when he thought no one saw him. But Daryl always noticed everything about his Harry. And being left in the dark, even if he didn't want to admit it, hurt quite a lot.

Harry took a deep breath before speaking, visibly trying to gather his courage.

"Daryl, I think I may be pregnant."

The hunter felt as if his whole world had stopped for a moment. Had Harry just said pregnant? Pregnant as in expecting? Pregnant as in having a child growing inside of him?

Of course, he had known that was possible. Harry had once mentioned it in passing but he hadn't paid much attention to it save for a small fantasy of Harry having their child. They had even talked a bit once, about having children someday. Daryl wasn't too comfortable with the idea but he knew he would have gone through with it because it would have made Harry happy. And then the world had gone to shit and he hadn't even remembered that.

The older man felt faint. Harry had said he may be, not that he was. Which meant he wasn't sure yet. But what if he was? What if he, Daryl Dixon, was going to be a dad? What kind of father would he be if one took into account that his own father had been a fucking piece of trash that only cared about getting drunk and beating the shit out of him and his brother? What kind of father would he be when the only love he had known had come from his brother Merle and his little one? What if he ended up being like his father?

Daryl paled at the mere idea, but then something came to his mind. Harry had had as much of a shitty childhood as he had, even worse if one knew the worst thing his uncle ever did to him and that he had to endure it all alone. And yet he was sure Harry would never hurt their child. Or let him hurt him for that matter.

With that in mind, Daryl relaxed just a bit, his fears appeased for the moment.

One look into Harry's beautiful eyes had him frowning. Harry had started to cry again, silently now.

"You may?" croaked the redneck before clearing his suddenly dry throat. "Why do you think so?"

"The lack of appetite, throwing up, mood swings and a few other things I noticed… All are symptoms of pregnancy. I just wanted to be sure before I told you."

Daryl followed the wizards gaze and found himself staring at a transparent vial with a clear liquid inside.

"It's a pregnancy test potion. I came here to do it."

"Have you?"

Harry, still crying, stared at Daryl's mostly inexpressive face, too emotionally exhausted to even try and decipher the feelings it was hiding.

"Yes. I have to wait until it turns a colour to get the result. About five more minutes."

Daryl nodded slowly. Then, he got up and, for a second, Harry actually thought he would leave him there all alone, but the hunter simply sat on the trunk next to him.

When Daryl put his arm around his shoulders and kissed the crown of his head, Harry let out another sob and looked up at him with eyes filled of tears.

"Daryl? I'm sorry. I'm so sorry…"

"Shhh… You have nothing to be sorry about. Everything will be alright, darling."

"But what if it's true, Daryl? What if I'm really pregnant? What if…?"

"Shhh… It'll be alright. No matter what. We'll be alright."

They remained in silence a couple more minutes, until Harry hid his face in Daryl's chest.

"What?" asked Daryl frowning when he didn't catch whatever the wizard had muttered under his breath.

"I'm afraid." repeated Harry.

"Of what?"

But Harry didn't answer; he just burrowed further into Daryl's warm chest. The hunter wrapped his arms around the younger man and rested his chin on his head.

They just waited like that for the test to be over. That was the worst to Daryl. The wait. He was a man of action. Having to sit down and wait for something to happen didn't really sit well with him.

The redneck looked down at where the vial was resting on the trunk and froze. The liquid inside wasn't clear as water anymore. It was a light pink.

Slowly, Daryl let go of Harry and the wizard looked up at him in confusion, until the hunter signalled with his head towards the glass vial.

As soon as the younger one's eyes saw it, he tensed up, his breathing sped up and more tears built in his eyes. Daryl had to pry his hands, which were fisted on the front of his t-shirt, from him so he could go back to his previous position of crouching before him.

"Harry? Is it…? Are you…?"

Harry looked at him and went back to sobbing.

"I'm… I'm pregnant."

Daryl took a deep breath, trying to keep himself calm. It wouldn't do to start panicking now. He brought his hands up to cup his little one's face and looked him in the eye.

"Do you want this child, Harry?"

"What?

"I'm asking if you want this child, Harry. It's your body, your choice." said Daryl hiding himself behind an impassive mask.

He didn't want his own feelings to influence Harry's. He needed him to make that choice by himself.

"We don't exactly live in a safe world. Everything's gone to shit. Dead people are coming back and eating the people left alive. What kind of life will this child have? Does he really even have a chance? Or will I simply be bringing a child into the world only for him to die a horrible death? In the highway… I saw…" Harry swallowed and sniffled. "And then Sophia… And Carl being shot…"

"I know, but that's not what I asked you, Harry. I asked you if you want this child."

"Is it not selfish? To bring a child into a world you know he won't have much possibilities of surviving?"

"Harry."

The wizard looked him in the eyes, new tears falling from his beautiful green eyes and down his porcelain pale cheeks.

"It's our child. Ours, Daryl. Our baby. Of… of course I want him. I want to have this child so much..."

That was all Daryl needed to hear as he wiped the tears from his lover's face and leaned forward to kiss him, first on the forehead, then on the lips.

"Then there's nothing else to discuss. We're gonna have this baby and we're gonna make damn sure he or she survives in this bloody shitty world."

"But do you want this too? You said it was my choice, but that's not true. This is your child too, it's as much your choice as it is mine."

"As you've said, it's our child. Our blood. We don't have much family left, do we?"

"No, but that's not what I asked you." said Harry throwing his previous words back at him.

Daryl felt a slight smile tug at his lips and nodded. He was right after all.

"After the dead started to walk, I didn't even contemplate it. The only thing I could think about was I needed to keep you safe." confessed the hunter softly putting their foreheads together and ignoring the confused look Harry was giving him. He still marvelled at how gentle he could be when it came to his little love. "It's not exactly the best time, I'll give you that, but I wouldn't change it for anything. You know as well as I do that we would've never thought it was a good time anyway, even if all this shit hadn't happened. So yes, I want this child, Harry. I want you and this child and I'm gonna make damn sure you both are safe and alive as long as I'm breathing."

Because that's the best I can do. But that went unsaid.

Harry's beautiful forest green eyes, for once clear of tears, brightened at that and a soft smile tugged at his lips. Daryl felt his heart soften. It had been a few days since Harry had looked at him like that. Or since Harry had looked anything but sick or distant. At least he could finally understand why.

"You're going to be a really good dad, Daryl." said the wizard lifting a hand to move aside a strand of hair that covered his partner's eyes.

The older man froze for a second at those words, unsure of how to respond. That had always been one of his biggest fears. Turning out like his father. That was the main reason why, until he met Harry that first time, he had never even contemplated the mere idea of ever having a child of his own.

"I love you." whispered the man with full certainty.

Harry's smile widened at that. It wasn't often that Daryl said those words, but when he did, Harry always felt his own love burn even brighter for him.

"I love you too."

At those words, Daryl brought him into his strong arms and hid his face in the raven's hair for a few minutes, inhaling his sweet calming scent.

"We should go back. It's getting late."

Daryl frowned, not wanting to relinquish his hold on the young man snuggled up to his chest. He was in no rush to go back to the presence of those idiots in the camp. They were loud obnoxious idiots that would get them killed if they didn't grow a pair soon, but Daryl knew he needed them if he wanted to have a greater chance of keeping Harry, and now their child too, alive.

"Daryl? It'll be dinner time soon and you know they won't even think about saving us a bit, even if you were the one to hunt the deer."

"Are you hungry?" asked Daryl surprised.

"Yeah, I'm starving actually." giggled the wizard.

After all his worry about Harry not eating enough, Daryl wasn't about to let this go. He stood up, easily pulling Harry up with himself, and nodded in the direction the farm was.

Harry smiled up at him and stood on his tiptoes to press a chaste kiss to the hunter's lips before starting to walk. Before he could take more than a couple steps, though, Daryl had stopped him by grabbing his wrist in a firm yet gentle grip.

"Hey, it's gonna be alright, ok?" the man placed a hand on Harry's flat stomach over where their child was growing. "We're gonna be alright. I'll make sure of it."

"I know." whispered firmly Harry placing his own hands over his. "I know."

Daryl leaned down and kissed his lover with passion, trying to show in that one kiss all the love he felt for him. Harry was his light in this dark world. And he wouldn't have it any other way.


End file.
